I live in the city and all around my home new buildings are being constructed. Walking one morning, I stopped to watch a crane in action. What I saw was elegance and purpose at work, and it was exquisite.
What does a building site crane have to do with elegance and purpose?
As I watched the crane, I got to feel how it works: slow, purposeful, unhurried, and focussed. It lifted large heavy items, gently and precisely placing them where they needed to go. This to me was beauty in motion.
It was very easy to feel how different this picture would be if the driver was in a hurry, distracted, rushing to get something done, tired, tense or even trying too hard… this would be seen, felt and magnified in every movement of the crane, immediately. Instead of seeing elegance and purpose at work, I would have been watching something rough and even dangerous.
Because of its sheer size, a crane cannot help but magnify the quality in which the driver operates it.
I found myself imagining how uncomfortable it would be to see something that large working in a zippy, rushing way, yet this is exactly how I can operate in my day to ‘get things done’. Standing there, I could feel how much havoc I can wreak on the worksite of my life and upon all those I share it with when I move and operate in a rush, and with nervous energy.
It is easy to see how bumping into things as a human being can leave me with a bruise, a scratch or a cut: on the level of a crane, these same bumps can be disastrous, costly and even deadly. The crane driver knows he is responsible not just for moving things from A to B, but for moving them safely, carefully and efficiently within a busy worksite, without bumping or damaging anything or any one of the many workers around the site.
On the human level, it is much easier to brush off the bumps, bruises or spilling consequences of rushing and just keep going; when on the crane level these consequences are followed with an immediate stop and investigation.
Living even just one day with this level of accountability for the way I move might just explain how I can reach the end of some days feeling battered and messy without really understanding why.
Rushing seems to get things done, but if the crane driver followed this theory, it would show that the opposite is true: rushing makes a mess, effectively slowing things down when the intention is to speed them up.
Elegance and purpose are a crane driver’s only way of operating. There is much beauty to feel and see in this level of commitment, awareness and care in action. It is an unexpected reminder of how I can move and conduct myself with this same elegance and purpose in my own body in the ‘work site’ of my daily life.
Inspired by the work and movement of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.
By Adrienne Hutchins, Funeral Director, Brisbane, Australia
Further Reading:
Stillness
The Nature of Energy: A Bathtub Lesson
Rush Rush Rush
889 Comments
As you confirm here elegance and purpose can be found in the most surprising places.
Purpose and elegance are possible when there is a connection with ourselves that we move with in life.
Our bodies are much like the crane in that whatever quality of energy we are aligning to we magnify through our bodies, through our movements and this is what we bring to our living day. We all hold the responsibility of the quality in which we are choosing to live, one we either choose to embrace or reject – either way the responsibility remains as does the impact of how we choose to respond to it.
Yes so every moment counts and every choice is crucial. I love this reminder.
Great article Adrienne, and I can now feel a completely different way of appreciating my every movement in the most bird like way as I envisage the methodical way a Crain goes about collecting food. So is it any wonder Those huge crain’s need to be Tenderly and Purpose-full operated in every-way reflecting or mirroring the elegance of the natural way a Crain Lives.
Such a beautiful reflection of the responsibility we all have to ensure we move with elegance and purpose throughout our daily lives.
In your example of the crane we can easily see how our large movements are magnified and the potential for disaster is very obvious in this situation. If the crane driver was in a push and stress to get the job done, then the clanking, roughness and disorder would be so apparent. Yet, in our daily lives we don’t see the potential for disaster in our smaller movements when we push and drive to get the housework done, that document sent out to our boss or the tension we send that email in. All of these have an impact on our body and affects those around us.
Without true purpose at work we become bored and easily distracted, far wiser to feel God’s purpose in what you we do then nothing becomes a bore in-fact when we work with the purpose of God everything becomes so very meaningful and interesting.
So often we take for granted the jobs people do and all that is required to do that job, I mean you have to admire the crane operator for actually being able to climb all those steps just to get to work each day. Not for the faint hearted!
Adrienne, You are offering us a great reminder and stop with this analogy with the work of the cranes. True, rushing seems to get things done, but in the end we are left exhausted and the quality of our work is not what it should be, in effect it is truly harming for everyone involved and beyond.
Elegance and purpose how we can be in life and seeing a crane is such a great way to see how it in fact operates, there are no small ripples or tasks, everything impacts well beyond that first move, so if we did indeed live moving with that care, dedication and purpose like a crane driver, it would change our lives, and reveal the truth of the responsibility that we all carry, for every move we make impacts all around.
[…] Related Reading: There is honour in every job Am I in the right job? Elegance and Purpose – At Work […]
Maybe there is a right flow to everything so that things get done with due love care and attention in a timely way, synchronised with everything else being constellated at the same time, if we feel into it.
A beautiful analogy for the fact that every one of our movements magnifies the quality we are in at the time. Anger magnified, joy magnified, control magnified, understanding magnified etc. This makes our responsibility very simple… we guarantee the quality and the rest is taken care of.
A great example of how everything matters and how it has a ripple effect on not just us but the whole environment. Taking that time to appreciate and enjoy the quality of stillness deep within us and moving from this as our foundation is deeply powerful.
What a gorgeous example of elegance in action, and how in fact that rush doesn’t speed things up at all, it slows things down and the quality is lost or dissipated everywhere … that would be disastrous with a crane and is in fact equally so on all of those smaller scales too, our movements matter, they ripple out into our lives and those of others, and the quality of how we move feeds us and all we touch.
With exquisite precision, the ‘hand of God’ is made manifest in all our daily workings.
Oh I love this and can feel the responsibility to bring this into the way I live and approach what I do. The first step is to ensure I have a relationship with my body that can recognise the difference between rush and no rush and the reflection of the crane is a beautiful visual reminder. I have no doubt I will see cranes whenever I forget this commitment to myself!
Reading your blog Adrienne, I am reminded of the importance of being observant of all that is occurring in and around me in my daily life, as everything is a reflection for me either to learn from or as a confirmation of a quality that I have already embraced in life.
I have had the pleasure today to witness a fantastic police officer going about his work with elegance and purpose.
Every member of the public he spoke to there was a dedication there to do the best for all.
We can find in all walks of life people who inspire us and are that steady refection throughout.
Great sharing Sam and it is amazing to receive these reflections and they are all around us if we are open to them. The power of reflection and inspiration support us all to evolve. God, places them everywhere around us.
Beautifully observed Adrienne.
In that we reflect to each other exactly what we need to see. This is why Every job carries the same responsibility.
And is equally important.
It is brilliant to consider that our bodies could be just as important in their movements as the crane on a construction site, with just as much responsibility and power, we are the ones who make everything happen.
It is true that a machine this big magnifies movements,. A great lesson here and it is relevant to bring it back to how we are in our day to day. Do we rush or do we allow the space and purpose in motion,
If we moved with the knowing all our movements effect everyone we would have purpose .. .. I love our symbolically objects on earth have a greater meaning we can reflect on.
What I have been understanding and learning is that work is not different to any other part of my day so true purpose is me bringing all the I am to everything in my life equally.
It is very true Natalie – everything we do, from how we live, work and breath requires a quality of energy to fuel our movements and it is our responsibility as to the quality of energy that is.
The crane operator knows there is a lot at stake, as the potential for widespread and costly damage is quite high. So, the movements need to be deliberate, precise and purposeful. If we could see the energetic effect of the way we move on everything around us, and the harmony or destruction left behind, perhaps we would take much greater care as the stakes are the same.
I loved what you have shared Adrienne, I too have had a fascination for cranes, I just love watching them move so slow and deliberate. They speak and are operated with such elegance and purpose, no rushing, every movement and motion has to be very precise, otherwise the results could be dire. It makes me realise the effects I have on my self, others and life in general when I go into the rush mode.